“From the active identification of cases to improved contact tracing; from the proper management of the outbreak through an Incident Management System to the social mobilization of communities… we continue to fight back and remain thankful to all for the responses we have received,” President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf said in a nationwide address.
Author: Théophile Niyitegeka
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Clashes in Jerusalem ahead of Kerry talks with Abbas
Clashes erupted in east Jerusalem Thursday ahead of talks between Washington’s top diplomat and Palestinian leader Mahmud Abbas on easing a surge of violence across Israel and the occupied territories.
As Abbas prepared to meet Secretary of State John Kerry in Amman for talks focused on rising tensions in annexed east Jerusalem, particularly at the flashpoint Al-Aqsa mosque compound, police clashed with Palestinian demonstrators in the city’s Issawiya neighbourhood, an AFP correspondent reported.
Around 100 residents, among them schoolchildren, tried to block the main road in protest after police blocked off several of the neighbourhood’s entrances with concrete blocks.
Police fired tear gas, percussion bombs and rubber bullets to break up the rally.
Months of unrest have escalated in recent days, spreading from annexed east Jerusalem to the occupied West Bank and Arab communities across Israel, and raising fears of a new Palestinian uprising.
– ‘Red line’ –
The meeting between Abbas and Kerry, who arrived in Jordan late on Wednesday, comes a day after Israel approved plans for another 200 settler homes in a settlement neighbourhood of east Jerusalem in a move sharply criticised by Washington.
Much of the unrest in Jerusalem has been fuelled by Israeli moves to step up settlement activity in the city and by religious tensions at the Al-Aqsa mosque compound, a site holy to both Muslims and Jews.
The Palestinians have been deeply angered by a campaign by far-right Jewish fringe groups to secure prayer rights at the shrine, although Israel has repeatedly stressed it has no plans to change the decades old status quo, under which Jews can visit but not pray there.
Abbas’s spokesman said he would tell Kerry of the Palestinians’ growing concerns over Israel’s actions, particularly in Jerusalem.
“The Palestinian position will be made crystal clear: the Israeli violations are a red line and cannot be tolerated — especially with the tension and Israeli escalation in Al-Aqsa and Jerusalem,” Nabil Abu Rudeina told AFP.
In a letter to the UN Security Council sent on Wednesday, Palestinian ambassador Riyad Mansour demanded international intervention.
– ‘End provocative acts’ –
“The flagrant disrespect for this holy site and for Palestinian worshippers, marked by daily incursions into the compound… must be taken seriously by the international community as they are stoking religious sensitivities and aggravating tensions, with the potential to spiral out of control,” he said.
Clashes at the mosque compound have drawn sharp criticism from both the Palestinians and Jordan, which has custodial rights at the shrine.
Ahead of Kerry’s arrival, King Abdullah met Abbas in Amman for talks in which he expressed his “total rejection” of Israel’s “repeated aggressions and provocations in Jerusalem,” a palace statement said.
In a move likely to further heighten tensions around the compound, Israel’s Public Security Minister Yitzhak Aharonovitch said late Wednesday he would introduce metal detectors and facial-recognition technology at the entrances.
“We?ll increase the supervision of people entering the compound, both Jews and Muslims,” he said. Metal detectors were removed from the compound’s gates in 2000.
The US State Department sharply condemned Israel’s announcement of 200 new homes in the east Jerusalem settlement neighbourhood of Ramot.
“We are deeply concerned by this decision, particularly given the tense situation in Jerusalem,” said spokeswoman Jen Psaki.
Middle East Quartet envoy Tony Blair urged Israeli and Palestinian leaders to call for restraint and “an end to hostile and provocative acts”, including settlement construction.
UN chief Ban Ki-moon demanded both sides do everything possible “to avoid further exacerbating an already tense environment”.
On Wednesday, suspected Jewish extremists staged a pre-dawn arson attack on a West Bank mosque two days after Palestinian knife attacks killed a settler in the southern West Bank and an Israeli soldier in Tel Aviv.
AFP, FRANCE 24
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Russia on the spot as fears mount over east Ukraine conflict
{International pressure on Russia was mounting Thursday over claims it is sending fresh military hardware into eastern Ukraine which could fuel a return to all-out conflict.}
After NATO accused Russia of deploying tanks, troops and military hardware to the region, Ukraine said four of its soldiers had been killed in the past 24 hours and 18 wounded.
There were a string of explosions late Wednesday in the rebel stronghold of Donetsk but the situation was calm Thursday, an AFP reporter said, with only occasional exchanges of fire.
Rebels said three people were injured in shelling in Donetsk Wednesday.
A senior Ukrainian security official speaking to AFP on condition of anonymity claimed there were now thousands of Russian troops in the country.
“According to our estimations, there are 8,000 Russian soldiers, maybe more, on our territory at the moment,” he said.
The skirmishes on the ground played out against a backdrop of rising Western concern over claims that Russia is dispatching reinforcements to the east of the former Soviet state.
NATO’s commander in Europe, US General Philip Breedlove, said Wednesday that “columns of Russian equipment, primarily Russian tanks, Russian artillery, Russian air defence systems and Russian combat troops” were entering Ukraine.
Later, Assistant Secretary-General Jens Anders Toyberg-Frandzen told an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council that it was “deeply concerned” by a possible return to full-scale fighting.
The US Ambassador to the UN, Samantha Power, charged that Russia “talks peace but it keeps fueling war” as Washington warned that the West could ramp up punishing sanctions against Moscow.
– Uncertainty over coming weeks –
But Russia’s Deputy Ambassador to the UN, Alexander Pankin, described NATO claims of a Russian military buildup in east Ukraine as a “foray into propaganda”.
Pro-Russian separatists in east Ukraine have been fighting Ukrainian forces since April in a war which has claimed more than 4,000 lives and driven hundreds of thousands of people from their homes.
Moscow has repeatedly denied involvement but openly gives political backing to the self-declared separatist statelets in the east.
A fragile ceasefire has been in place for two months and has stopped much frontline fighting although shelling at strategic flashpoints continues.
Kiev warned Wednesday it was preparing for a possible new round of fighting after seeing “increased activity” by Russia and pro-Moscow rebels in the east.
Observers from the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) have reported a number of unmarked military convoys heading towards rebel strongholds in recent days.
The West is watching anxiously to see how the situation in eastern Ukraine will develop as the former Soviet state’s harsh winter kicks in.
Toyberg-Frandzen outlined three scenarios — a “return to full-scale fighting”; a continuation of the current situation “for months” with low-level battles punctuated by periods of increased hostility; or a “frozen” conflict which could draw out the current situation for decades.
The senior Ukrainian security official predicted that pro-Russian forces may try to take control of the entire regions of Donetsk and Lugansk, of which separatists currently only control a part.
They could then try create a corridor to Crimea, which Russia annexed in March, he added.
The Ukraine crisis has sent relations between Russia and the West plummeting to their lowest point since the Cold War.
Russian President Vladimir Putin is likely to face fresh pressure over Ukraine at a G20 summit in Brisbane from Saturday.
Australia said Thursday it was tracking four Russian navy ships including a “heavily armed” cruiser and destroyer, in international waters off its north coast ahead of the high-level meeting.
– Australia monitors Russian ships –
There is public anger in Australia over the downing of Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 over eastern Ukraine in July, killing 298 people including 38 Australian citizens and residents.
Ukraine, supported by Western nations, accuses Russia of supplying pro-Kremlin separatists with the missile that shot down the airliner but Moscow and the rebels blame Ukrainian forces.
Putin met Australia’s Prime Minister Tony Abbott and discussed Ukraine at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit in Beijing Tuesday.
Abbott had previously threatened to “shirtfront” the Russian president — an Australian Rules football term in which a player charges an opponent — over the MH17 disaster.
The Australian premier said Thursday that Russia’s naval deployment highlighted its “assertiveness” but was “not unusual” ahead of a major conference.
“We’re seeing — regrettably — a great deal of Russian assertiveness right now in Ukraine,” he added on the sidelines of the East Asia Summit in Myanmar’s capital, Naypyidaw.
John Blaxland, an international security expert at the Australian National University, said sending the ships was “huff and puff” by Putin designed to reinforce his “tough, he-man image”.
FRANCE 24
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More than 500 million adults are obese as a result of Malnutrition
{{Now is the time to tackle malnutrition and its massive human costs}}
By José Graziano da Silva, FAO Director-General
Margaret Chan, WHO Director-GeneralThe scourge of malnutrition affects the most vulnerable in society, and it hurts most in the earliest stages of life. Today, more than 800 million people are chronically hungry, about 11 percent of the global population. Undernutrition is the underlying cause of almost half of all child deaths, and a quarter of living children are stunted due to inadequate nutrition. Micronutrient deficiencies—due to diets lacking in vitamins and minerals, also known as “hidden hunger”—affects 2 billion people.
Another worrying form of malnutrition—obesity—is on the rise. More than 500 million adults are obese as a result of diets containing excess fat, sugars and salt. This exposes people to a greater risk of noncommunicable diseases—like heart disease, stroke, diabetes and cancer—now the top causes of death in the world. Poor diet and physical inactivity also account for 10 percent of the global burden of disease.
Many developing countries now face multiple burdens of malnutrition, with people living in the same communities—sometimes even the same households—suffering from undernutrition, hidden hunger and obesity.
These numbers are shocking and must serve as a global call to action.
Besides the terrible human suffering, unhealthy diets also have a detrimental impact on the ability of countries to develop and prosper—the cost of malnutrition, in all its forms, is estimated between 4 and 5 percent of global GDP.
Government leaders, scientists, nutritionists, farmers, civil society and private sector representatives from around the world will gather in Rome from 19 to 21 November for the Second International Conference on Nutrition (ICN2). It is an opportunity they cannot afford to miss: making peoples’ right to a healthy diet a global reality.
{{Current food systems are unsustainable and unhealthy}}
Creating healthy and sustainable food systems is key to overcoming malnutrition in all its forms—from hunger to obesity.
Food production has tripled since 1945, while average food availability per person has risen by only 40 percent. Our food systems have succeeded in increasing production, however, this has come at a high environmental cost and has not been enough to end hunger. Meanwhile, food systems have continued to evolve with an even greater proportion of food being processed and traded, leading to greater availability of foods with high energy, fats, sugars and salt.
Our food systems are simply not sustainable or healthy today, let alone in 2050, when we will have to feed more than 9 billion people. We need to produce more food but also nutritious food and to do so in ways that safeguard the capacity of future generations to feed themselves. Put simply: we need healthy and sustainable food systems—that produce the right balance of foods, in sufficient quantity and quality, and that is accessible to all—if we want to lead healthy, productive and sustainable lives.
Acting now
In preparation for ICN2, countries have agreed to a Political Declaration and a Framework for Action on nutrition containing concrete recommendations to develop coherent public policies in agriculture, trade, social protection, education and health that promote healthy diets and better nutrition at all stages of life.
The Framework for Action gives governments a plan for developing and implementing national policies and investments throughout the food chain to ensure healthy, diverse and balanced diets for all. This can include strengthening local food production and processing, especially by family farmers and small-scale producers, and linking it to school meals; reducing fat, sugars and salt in processed food; having schools and other public institutions offer healthy diets; protecting children from marketing of unhealthy foods and drinks; and allowing people to make informed choices regarding what they eat.
While government health, agriculture, and education ministries should take the lead, this task includes all involved in producing, distributing and selling food.
The ICN2 Framework for Action also suggests greater investments to guarantee universal access to effective nutrition interventions, such as protection, promotion and support of breastfeeding, and increasing nutrients available to mothers.
Countries can start implementing these actions now. The first step is to establish national nutrition targets to implement already agreed-upon global targets, as set out in the Framework for Action. ICN2 is the time and place to make these commitments.
FAO and WHO are ready to assist countries in this effort. By transforming commitment into action and cooperating more effectively with one another and with other stakeholders, the world has a real chance of ending the multiple burdens of malnutrition in all its forms within a generation.
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The new generation of Rwandan programmers: Meet 11-year old Ketia Ikirezi
{Ikirezi Ketia, is an 11 year old girl who has taken the IT community by surprise, has created an animation program on her laptop. Her innovation gave her the opportunity to meet one of the biggest champions for ICT in Rwanda- His Excellency President Paul Kagame at the Smart Rwanda Days this past October.}
Ketia recently completed the primary school national examinations this past month at Salesian Elementary School (EPAK) in Kimihurura, Kigali. This year Ketia also excelled in other subjects and took second place in her class.
Ni Nyampinga sat down with this young confident girl for an exclusive interview where she shared her passion for IT, excitement for the future and her achievements.
{{NN:}} In few words, who is Ketia?
{{Ketia: }} My name is Ikirezi Ketia, and I am 11 years old. I was born in Gisenyi (Rubavu district), and at the age of two I went to live with my grandmother in Cyangugu (Rusizi district). A few years later, my parents moved to Kigali and I joined them and continued my primary school here at EPAK Don Bosco.
{{NN:}} How did you get the opportunity to meet the President?
{{Ketia:}} Since Primary four, I took IT courses, where we used to have training on how to use the laptops we got from One Laptop Per Child program. In Primary six, they give us an assignment to think about a project that can help Rwandans through ICT, and to work on topic that we feel comfortable with. The top three students with the best projects were to present their projects at the Smart Rwanda Days event. I was selected among those three and participated in Smart Rwanda Days in October, and that is when I met our President.
{{NN}}: And what topic did you work on?
{{Ketia:}} My project was an animation of a mother talking to her children about having a balanced diet. I wanted to show the difference between children who have access to healthy food to the ones who do not.
{{NN: }} Did you present your project during Smart Rwanda Days?
{{Ketia}}: Yes, I did. We were three students from our school and other pupils from different schools. People came to our stand where we were sitting, and we presented to whoever was interested in our projects. I presented my project to the President and I also got a chance to ask him a question.
{{NN:}} What question did you ask him?
{{Ketia:}} I asked him, “Will we continue to use the same laptops, as we are finishing the primary school?” and also asked, “will we get opportunities to study subjects we like at secondary school? He answered that: “ The best is yet to come”. This response made me happy and so did my colleagues!
{{NN}}: Did you face any challenges while doing your project as a child and more especially as a young girl?
{{Ketia}}: Not really, the only challenge was that I had trouble mastering the laptop, but the school brought us two teachers who supported us.
{{NN}}: Please give advice to young girls like you who are afraid to use ICT.
{{Ketia}}: ICT is not difficult at all, same for other subjects. If you like something, do not be afraid to do it, whether you are a boy or girl. What a boy can do, a girl can do it too!
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70% of world’s poor rely critically on biodiversity
{UNDP partners with Conservation International, the World Bank, the International Union for Conservation of Nature and the Global Environment Facility to showcase more than 100 nature-based solutions to tackle global development challenges}
The World Parks Congress, a once-in-a-decade gathering of policy-makers and scientists who shape the global conservation agenda, got underway in Sydney on Wednesday with calls for stronger global recognition of the importance of environmental protection in attaining lasting and equitable development.
The weeklong event is expected to see some of the world’s leading experts on conservation and biodiversity cite ‘increasing evidence’ of the ever-stronger role that protected areas play in achieving a nations’ development goals, including food and water security, disaster risk reduction, protecting livelihoods, and driving poverty reduction.
One third of all the largest cities depend upon forest protected areas for their municipal drinking water. Protected areas also provide water filtrations systems that help avoid the costs of billions of dollars of water treatment facilities around the world. The Catskill Mountains in New York, for example, have saved tax payers over $10 billion since 1997. Protected areas generate jobs and act as engines of local development through the tourism and other sectors, and maintain ecosystem services that sustain livelihoods for hundreds of millions around the world.
These discussions come at a critical time, as the United Nations leads worldwide efforts to create a new global compact expected to succeed the Millennium Development Goals after their deadline in 2015.
Seventy per cent of the world’s poorest people depend critically on biodiversity to provide them with life’s basic necessities of food, water, medicines and livelihoods. Yet a third of the world faces water stress, more than 700 million hectares of tropical forest have been cleared since 1990, and the number of fish stocks over-exploited has tripled in the past 40 years.
Hosted jointly by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN), and the New South Wales Government in Australia, the Congress will feature more than 1,700 presentations and events, with heads of state, environment ministers and more than 4,000 delegates from 160 countries in attendance.
UNDP has partnered with Conservation International (CI), the World Bank, IUCN and the GEF to help governments, the private sector and civil society, better understand the potential role protected areas can play in ensuring sustainable development.
“There is ever stronger evidence that if we make protected areas an integral part of our economies, development and well-being, we can achieve some of the world’s most elusive development ambitions,” said Nik Sekhran, Director of Sustainable Development under the Bureau for Policy and Programme Support, at UNDP.
“The significant contributions of protected areas to livelihoods, job creation, economic development and maintenance of critical ecosystem services is not currently reflected in national development planning processes, public funding or in the underlying economic decision-making frameworks that drive public and private investments,” said Carlos Manuel Rodriguez, Vice-President at Conservation International.
At the Congress, under the programme Stream 5: Reconciling development challenges that UNDP is co-leading with CI and the World Bank, policymakers, practitioners, scientists and businesses will showcase more than 100 innovative solutions from around the world that reconcile sustainable development with the major development challenges of our time.
While significant advances have been made in expanding protected natural eco-systems since the previous Congress held in South Africa in 2004, few countries sufficiently recognise the contributions protected areas make in creating jobs and spurring economic growth, say experts.
Through the GEF Small Grants Programme, UNDP, with the global Indigenous Community Conserved Area (ICCA) Consortium, the German International Development Agency, and the Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity, is also jointly leading programme Stream 6: Enhancing the diversity and quality of governance of protected areas. UNDP will also be hosting the World Indigenous Network (WIN) Pavilion space organized by the Equator Initiative, as well as numerous inputs to the Conservation Finance Pavilion and other events across the Congress.
The coming year is expected to be critical in setting pathways to strengthening the role of protected areas in defining and delivering on the world’s Sustainable Development Goals, the global compact expected to succeed the Millennium Development Goals.
The Congress is expected to culminate in an outcome document titled The Promise of Sydney, which will capture the most strategic thinking of those present, inspiring solutions for the challenges we all face globally and charting the future direction for protected areas.
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UK opposition could doom EU efforts to curb plastic bag use
{A bid by the European parliament to impose an 80% cut in the 100bn plastic bags used by Europeans each year could be scuppered by several states opposed to Europe-wide action, and a European commission that increasingly views targets as an unnecessary distraction.}
‘Single use’ plastic bags are light, convenient and easily thrown away but their very disposability creates an environmental threat. As many as a million seabirds and 100,000 sea mammals – including large numbers of seals and turtles – are killed each year by ingesting plastics or becoming entangled in the growing number of plastic islands that gloss large swathes of the world’s oceans.
But several countries led by the UK and Croatia are opposing EU-wide mandatory pricing or product restrictions for plastic bags. France and Spain are more supportive but the commission’s first vice president Frans Timmermans on Wednesday said that he was “not sure” whether the proposal reflected the previous commission’s original intent.
The Guardian has learned that the commission’s secretariat-general is currently discussing whether to reject the proposal in a final negotiating round on Monday, sending it back to a council of EU ministers where it would likely be blocked by the need for unanimity.
“I fear that although the member states agree that we have to act, they do not want us to tackle it at the European level altogether,” said the Dutch Liberal MEP Gerben-Jan Gerbrandy. “It is extremely worrying as this is the fundament of EU environmental legislation.”
“Plastic bags are a huge environmental problem that can be very easily solved, and that doesn’t happen very often anymore in the environmental field,” he added.
The average EU citizen used 191 plastic bags in 2010 and only 6% of them were recycled, according to the commission. But when Ireland introduced mandatory pricing for single-use plastic bags in 2002, their use was reduced by 90% within a year.
British opposition to a bag ban has been derided by Greens in the European parliament who have focused their fire on a strong UK stand against a ban of ‘oxo-degradable’ plastic bags, despite contrary advice from the UK environment department. The Greens suggest the UK’s position is a result of the business affairs of leading Tory politicians and the government’s Eurosceptic impulses.
Symphony Environmental Technologies, the largest manufacturer of oxo-degradable bags, counts the Tory MEP Nirj Deva as chairman of its board, the former Tory MP Michael Stephen as its deputy chairman, and the ex-MEP and chair of the European Conservatives and Reformists group in parliament, Lord Callanan, as its consultant.
Despite only employing 30 people worldwide, the company has succeeded in making use of oxo-degradable bags mandatory in countries such as Pakistan, Iran, Serbia and Kosovo.
But studies by the Department for Food, Environment and Rural Affairs (Defra) and others suggest that the bags take two-five years before degrading, after which their additives help fragment the plastic into micro-plastics, which stay in the environment for many more years and cannot be composted or recycled.
“We are faced with a situation where a Tory government in the UK is fighting hard to defend a very small company with Tory ties, using absurd technology that creates environmental problems and turning the issue into another power struggle between the EU and the UK,” said Margrete Auken, the Green MEP and parliamentary rapporteur on plastic bags.
In Brussels too, facing down the plastic bags proposal and other environmental plans left over from José Manuel Barroso’s term is seen by some as a way of cementing the new commission’s image.
A block on the bags dossier would be in line with a document sent by Timmermans and Jean-Claude Juncker to other commissioners on 7 November, seen by the Guardian, which suggests “withdrawing pending proposals” from the previous administration in a works programme due to be announced on 16 December.
Laws pencilled in “for review” include: a clean air package which would include mandatory curbs on atmospheric pollutants; a waste package with binding recycling targets of up to 80% for 2030, and an energy taxation directive.
Several cross-party MEPs have already reacted with a strong letter to Juncker defending the clean air and waste packages for their “huge potential for jobs and growth, as well as environmental benefits.”
Gerbrandy told the Guardian that talk of burying such key environmental policies was “unacceptable,” and symptomatic of a commission retreat on environmental issues.
“The letter by Juncker and Timmermans is extremely alarming,” he said. “I find it unbelievable that Juncker and his people seem to believe that the environmental agenda is damaging competitiveness and growth. He seems to be trying to revive the last century economy we had in the 1980s instead of looking at the clean economy we’ll need in the coming years. In the future, a company will either be sustainable or it won’t be there at all.”
On Gerbrandy’s initiative, Timmermans has now been invited to explain his thinking at a forthcoming environment committee meeting in parliament.
An EU source told the Guardian that the underlying issue was about the value of legally enforceable action itself. “It is in the air that it’s not good to have targets,” the source said. “There’s an idea that there are too many targets and we shouldn’t have yet another one.”
The single-use plastic bags goal chosen by the European parliament is ambitious – for a 50% reduction within three years, rising to 80% by 2019 – with states retaining the choice to impose mandatory pricing or manufacturing restrictions.
The commission’s impact assessment predicted that this would bring €740m of savings across Europe of per year due to reduced litter collection, easier waste management and increased retail profits.
England plans to introduce a 5p plastic bag charge in October 2015, following similar schemes in Wales and Scotland.
The Guardian
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Exclusive: Israeli Deputy Ambassador to Rwanda shades light on Israel-Rwanda Friendship
{Rwanda’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation organized a Diplomatic Up country excursion for Heads of Mission accredited to Rwanda. The visit targeted the South and Western Provinces from 31 October to 2nd November 2014.}
The Foreign diplomats got an opportunity to visit different sites and projects in the two Provinces of Rwanda.
Shortly after concluding the visit, IGIHE exclusively met Mr. Leo Vinovezky, Israeli Deputy Ambassador to Rwanda, Burundi and Ethiopia who elaborated many issues ranging from politics, cooperation as well as some of the challenges Israel undergoes in the Middle East and how it deals with them with the backups of friends’ countries like Rwanda.
Below is the full interview…
{{IGIHE}}: {{Welcome to Rwanda Mr Leo…}}
Thank you so much for having me here. We have a very good reason for being here in Rwanda because we are kindly invited by the Minister of Foreign Affairs to do a diplomatic excursion in the South West provinces which I found very good and interesting. So I remain speechless because of your hospitality. You have a beautiful country and a beautiful people.
{{IGIHE}}: {{Talking about the excursion, would you comment briefly on the country you have just visited?}}
Yes, basically we were taken to the south, to the west, in which we had opportunities to meet people, to meet the business enterprises there and entrepreneurs as well.
For me as an Israel citizen and diplomat, to come here and to see very beautiful, interesting and encouraging common enterprises between three countries it is absolutely inspiring.
We are trying to do the same in the Middle East, with some of our neighbors, with some of them we have signed peace agreements which means with Egypt and Jordan, so hopefully one day we can do the same with more and more neighbors. We used to build a beautiful cooperation also with the Palestinians but it is not easy due to the terror attacks.
{{IGIHE}}:{{ Is there any other areas apart from agriculture that captured your attention? }}
We saw many things. And every one of my colleagues as well had chance while travelling to think and to elaborate a little bit the thoughts and the chances. First of all I saw here the potential in terms of agriculture as you mentioned but not only that, I think it is a green country, I think not as an expert but everything you put into the ground will flourish. So Yes absolutely I think that our challenge will be next time to bring those Israel companies and match Rwandan companies not only to Kigali but also to the South also to the West to promote dialogue, to promote B2B and cooperation as well even we are talking about not only business but also cooperation for development in which Israel is very much committed. This is our trademark since 1958, since MASHAV started operations.
When I talk about cooperation for development I am talking necessarily about technical knowledge, capacity building so all of this Israel knows how to do, knows how to share with its friends, so this is one reason that I am here. As you may know many students and professionals from Rwanda are coming to Israel on weekly basis but not only in agriculture but also in other fields as well. So yes we saw many interesting projects related to energy, relate to cement as well I think that there is a huge potential here. So we need to start working on this.
{{IGIHE}}: {{Israel is known as a country that uses advanced technologies in Agriculture; would you comment on Rwanda’s agriculture sector to let concerned authorities know where need more emphasis?}}
Well, as I say I am not an expert in Agriculture but all I can say is that recently some months ago Ambassador William Kayonga from NAEB recently visited Israel. We are searching together the way to create here and establish a centre of Excellence which means to expose the Rwandan farmers and businessman to our best practices in Agriculture and our best knowledge. So we signed an agreement with the former Minister of Agriculture last June. It’s promising the fact that Ambassador Kayonga visited Israel recently, the fact that some 150 students of agriculture from Rwanda are in Israel nowadays, these are steps that are promoting and creating and building this kind of partnership. So the last step that we did is to bring about sixty Israeli businesses to Kigali last June together with Minister Liberman, some of them are actually dealing with agriculture, so we believe in this PPP in which we can match not only businesses but also development. So whenever you see PPP for sure you will find an Israeli trying to promote that. Israel is a kind of big ntework not only in development efforts but also in private sector efforts. Also our Diaspora has a key role on this progress. Israeli has a very good name when it comes to development, when it comes to agriculture, when it comes to the promotion of businesses.
{{IGIHE}}: {{Is there anything, may be, that Israel can learn from Rwanda? }}
Absolutely, I mean when you talk about politics international politics and international diplomacy, I think you will agree with me that there is no one country in the world that can do it by itself. We are talking about cooperation, we are talking about joining hands to work together for a better future, for a better place, you know the future for our kids, our families; you deserve it, we deserve it and our neighbors deserve that and I think that the world suffered enough, and enough is enough. So I think that should be another way and this is the way that Israel believes in, that although the difficulties or the challenges or obstacles but I think we can learn a lot from Rwanda and a way that Rwanda is going for the last 20 years. Building a nation thru reconciliation.
I want to stress the point about your hospitality and generosity. Your attitude is encouraging and inspiring. So Israel and other countries will absolutely learn from that. Of course when I see around Kigali how the city becomes very clean, everything is on place, everything is beautiful and colorful so I think that not only Israel but more countries would love to imitate Rwanda.
The fact that a foreigner can establish a business in few days here in Rwanda, so when it comes to promote development and progress, absolutely Israel can learn from Rwanda and Rwanda can learn from Israel and we are friends not only because of specific interests but I think that we share a common vision, a common approach. We are two peoples that had suffered a lot and from this suffering we are trying to recover, we are trying to rebuild our nations and our peoples which is a very difficult task. But you are doing well, we are doing well and beyond that of course we found common interest in the international arena consolidating this friendship.
I can tell you that the recent visits to Israel of President Paul Kagame and Minister of Foreign Affairs are so remarkable. Israel respects your brave leadership and your strong people. So we see all the time officials from the government of Rwanda visiting Israel and the government of Israel and also officials from the parliament of Israel (Knesset) coming to Rwanda to strengthen the links between the two countries and the two peoples, that’s why I am here also to promote culture, Israel music, Israeli literature that has been translated into French and English as well we would like to screen documentary films from Israel made by Israel Filmmakers telling specific stories. So we are very similar in a way. I would like to share that with you as well and of course in the future we can establish cooperation in the culture arena which is to strengthen the links between the two peoples.
{{ IGIHE:}} {{What do you say about big countries interfering within other countries’ domestic politics? }}
It’s a good point but a country is not supposed to get involved in other’s domestic politics. Domestic politics is domestic politics. It is in the domain of the people and the society in the government of these specific countries. However of course we hold consultations with friends. Having said that, we both know that the world woke up late both during the Holocaust and the Genocide. We have very good friends, Rwanda is one of the best friends that Israel has, so absolutely we do consultations, we check our mutual approaches on a fixed basis.
For example at the UN, Israel sends its word out and if there is something that should be said should be said very clear and on time. Israel has a very clear position on this particular matter.
So if it’s Israel has to say something or specific issue in the world we are going to address that and this is basically our position in United Nations. You will find our Ambassador there who is dealing almost alone but with the strong backup of some of our best friends in the UN like Rwanda. We are facing a challenge by certain coalitions of countries. We are there because we believe in that. Because of our history.
When it comes to human rights, when it comes to promoting progress, when it comes to promoting the involvement of women and development Israel will be there.
{{IGIHE}}:{{ If I understand well you don’t agree with the Western countries’ ways of interfering in African domestic politics?}}
You know it’s not a matter of agree, not agree or disagree, if I may, recently during the campaign to Gaza from which Israel was fired thousands of rockets. I remember some countries criticizing Israel and I think they were criticizing Israel because they are involved in our conflict because of political reasons only. So I was talking to some of my colleagues representing those countries who actually very hardly criticized Israel and even removed their ambassadors temporarily from Israel as a “diplomatic” way to manifest complains, I told them “Look it is not a bilateral issue between the specific country and Israel”. Actually if you want to be involved in a diplomatic track, the last thing that you will want to do is to call your ambassador for consultations in your capital. To be involved in a process requires the capability and the ability to bring the sides in conflict closer each other. Israel has a challenge with the Palestinian terror. Look what is going today in Jerusalem and Tel Aviv. Every day we get a terror attack. We do not have any problem with the Palestinians. The problem is with the Palestinian terrorists. And nobody asks them to stop. So when it comes to this conflict, we have a concrete conflict with them, it is not the bilateral issue with those countries who actually keep criticizing Israel. The terror attacks, so Israel has to defend itself.
Our uniqueness is that we are one into a politicized international arena. But yesterday colleagues of mine from an African country asked me what Israel is doing to establish embassies in Arab countries? If it’s up to us, tomorrow morning there will be there, no question about that. For that to happen it should be some change in the Arab League but if tomorrow morning they are going to recognize us as a state, the day after tomorrow you will find an Israeli ambassador there. This is our way. Many years the world believed that the key to solve the international problems is the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Look what is going on in the Arab countries and between them. We think that if the Arab countries will solve their own domestic problems, the so-called Arab Spring, then the conflict with the Palestinians will come to an end. A happy end.
{{IGIHE}}: {{If you were investor in which sector would you put your money in this country?}}
First of all I think Tea and Coffee. Not only because I like Tea and coffee but because I think that you are already doing well in these areas. But let me explain: I would say also investment in terms of civil society. This kind of investment will bring progress. It could sound a paradox or controversy to invest because when people talk about investment they necessarily think about business, about doing money, which is fine and legitimate. But I think it is great to invest in other things. I mean countries like Rwanda or like Israel could benefit from investment in those social areas which we need to improve and promote which is the future generations. In Israeli we have the concept of “Matnas” (culture, social and sport centre). Every neighborhood has a Matnas in which you will see that the young kids and teenagers have all the facilities to develop their imagination, their creativity, their leadership skills, they are involved in positive things. Also important are the Youth Movements based on human values.
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Usher Hunting Down Stolen Sex Tape
{{Maybe Usher should call his next album Looking 4 My Sex Tape.}}
The singer’s team is hot on the trail of an unknown suspect who’s been trying to sell a sex tape featuring Usher and ex-wife Tameka Raymond, according to TMZ.
Back in 2009, someone broke into Usher’s car and stole two laptops, two video cameras and approximately a million dollars worth of jewelry (the offense report was filed in January 2010). From that theft, the suspect obtained the video, which saw no buyers, probably because it was stolen property that would have landed both parties in big trouble. Peddling the video to adult film companies would require legal permission from Usher, which is probably why the suspect has been exploring other options.
Leading Usher’s legal team is lawyer Mark Geragos, who recently helped Chris Brown end a pair of lawsuits with relatively tiny settlements. If he does uncover the stolen goods, it’s probably best to just let that hard drive burn.
Billboard
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Nyakabanda: Arrested Man was recruiting Youth for Unknown cause
{A man who acknowledged he deserted the army was arrested while registering youth whom he told he is recruiting for Top Security Company.
}The arrest took place on Wednesday 12th Nov. 2014 in Kanyange village, Munanira II in Nyakabanda Sector of Nyarugenge District.
Local officials and Residents said the man was arrested with a list of eight young people among the required 180 young recruits.
He was targeting young people who transport heavy luggage in the area, the same sources told this website’s reporter.
Although the man said he was recruiting for Security Company, the title on the papers on which he was writing the names was read as he is looking for people to undergo a Juice making training.
The man was immediately taken to the nearby police station for further investigation.